Category Archives: Thai Provincial Decrees

More than 800,000 migrant workers have been registered so far, junta chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said Friday night.

During his weekly TV programme, Prayuth said the junta is working with neighbouring countries, such as Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos in making preparations and conducting the nationality verification process again in order to legally issue passports for the those migrants.

“We have set a clear timetable to properly manage the workers and prevent human rights violation problems,” Prayuth added.

“Registration will be available for migrant workers only until 31 October 2014. After that will be the nationality verification process, which will be conducted and completed by 31 March 2015.”

He said business operators should also inform the authorities of their demand for migrant workers.

The Private Hospital Association has recommended that the huge annual per-head subsidy paid under the National Health Security Office (NHSO) scheme should not continue, with the government covering actual treatment costs.

The proposal was made at a recent Bangkok seminar on public healthcare reform ideas to possibly be sent to the military rulers.

Other drastic changes also proposed that all migrant workers should contribute to either the NHSO or the Social Security Office (SSO) scheme like Thai employees. Foreign tourists should also be required to sign accident or health insurance on arrival when entering Thailand, according to PHA chairman Dr Chalerm Harnpanish.

Under the NHSO scheme, in projects like the Bt30 universal healthcare or gold card scheme, the government has spent Bt180 billion each year, calculated from the Bt2,956 per-head subsidy for 49 million eligible people, who are not company employees or registered as taxpayers.

The amount will rise even further when the per-head subsidy rate reaches Bt3,060 in the near future.

Private hospitals have turned away from the NHSO scheme because they have higher operating costs and are not reimbursed fully for treatment of eligible patients. Government hospitals, which have been provided with both normal budget and subsidies through either NHSO or SSO schemes, manage to operate at lower costs.

If all of more than two million migrant workers were registered, they should be required to contribute to the NHSO, which means that both private and government hospitals in turn received their money to give them service and treatment, Chalerm said.

On humanitarian grounds, private and government hospitals are required to treat migrant workers unconditionally in case of emergencies, while being able to reimburse their treatment costs through NHSO or SSO schemes, usually at vastly reduced rates. This also applies to treating foreign tourists for emergencies or sickness, but their treatment costs would be covered through accident or health insurance if or when a fund was established that would make such policies available or mandatory by a new law.

Citing another PHA proposal, Chalerm said non-employed people, such as vendors, farmers or taxi motorcyclists and cabbies, should be registered and asked to contribute to the SSO – instead of leaving them eligible under the unsupported NHSO as they have been since the Bt30 universal healthcare scheme was established in 2001.

On the long-standing problem of the huge spending to support expensive medical bills for active and retired civil servants, Chalerm said they should be allowed to seek or receive treatment at hospitals at only two locations – those located near their workplaces or near their homes – not currently at every government hospital at the civil servants’ will.

He said such an open condition has long encouraged the officials to seek or receive treatment at multiple hospitals as out-patients, resulting in treatment costing the government more than 2.5 times that spent on in-patients.

The civil servants’ medical fund costs Bt60 billion each year to serve only five million officials and their eligible family members.

The number of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand has risen to 190,000 thanks to the new one-stop service centers set up across the border, Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor said Wednesday.

Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Suor said about 190,000 migrant workers—some with a full complement of legal documents, others with partial paperwork and others with none—were in Thailand taking advantage of the centers.

“In general, they went to show up at the one-stop-service offices set up in Thai territory,” he said.

The Thai junta set up the centers along its border with Cambodia after some 250,000 mostly illegal Cambodian migrant workers fled the country for fear of arrests and violence at the hands of the new Thai military government.

Illegal migrant workers, as long as they have identification cards, can use the centers to get 60-day passes that let them stay in Thailand while they prepare the documentation they need to stay longer.

“They have 60 days to complete other documents to make them legal,” Mr. Suor said. “If they want to work in Thailand, they first must be patient and understand some legal procedures.”

The Thai option has attracted far more migrant workers than the system set up by the Cambodian government to send workers back to Thailand legally.

To help workers return to Thailand, the government in June reduced the price of passports for migrant laborers from $124 to $4.

But to qualify, workers must provide proof of employment from a Thai employer or a recruitment agency and then obtain certification from the Labor Ministry before applying for the subsidized passport.

As of last week, just 500 applications had reached the passport department.

Sok Phal, director of the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Immigration, estimated about 100,000 migrant workers have returned to Thailand in the past two months. However, he could not specify whether the workers were returning with or without proper paperwork.

Subject: Establishment of additional One Stop Service Centers for the Registration of Migrant Workers and Measures for orderly management of migrant workers working on fishing vessels in provinces bordering the sea

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Whereas clause 4 of the Announcement of the National Council for Peace and Order No. 70/2557 on Subject: Interim Measures in solving the problem of migrant workers and human trafficking dated 25 June B.E. 2557 (2014), has provided that a One Stop Service Center for the Registration of Migrant Workers (hereinafter “One Stop Service”) shall be established in every province and that the establishment and the commencement of their operations shall be in accordance with further announcements from the National Council for Peace and Order (hereinafter “NCPO”), and in order to provide for an orderly management of migrant workers working on fishing vessels in provinces bordering the sea, the NCPO hereby announces as follows.

1. Additional One Stop Service centers shall be set up pursuant to clause 4 of the Announcement of the National Council for Peace and Order No. 70/2557 on Subject: Interim Measures in solving the problem of migrant workers and human trafficking, dated 25 June B.E. 2557 (2014), in each of the seven provinces of Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Rayong, Songkhla, Samut Prakan, and Surat Thani, all of which shall commence operations from 7 July B.E. 2557 (2014) onwards.

Subject: Interim Measures in solving the problem of migrant workers and human trafficking

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Whereas it is considered appropriate to specify measures in solving the problem of migrant workers and human trafficking, in order to provide for an orderly management of migrant workers within the country, to establish employment standards for migrant workers in accordance with international standards, to alleviate the problems encountered by business owners and employers whose business necessarily requires employing migrant workers, and to eliminate the use of forced labour as well as exploitation of migrant workers; the NCPO hereby announces as follows:

1. A Facilitation Center for the Return of Cambodian workers (hereinafter the Facilitation Center) shall be set up in Sa-Kaew province, Chantaburi province, Trad province, and Surin province. It shall consider issuing a temporary entry permit for Cambodian nationals who wish to return to work in Thailand, with the Ministry of Interior as the main responsible body. This Facilitation Center shall work together with the Ministry of Labour, the Immigration Bureau and other relevant bodies and shall commence work from 26 June 2014 onwards.

In implementing paragraph 1 above, the Facilitation Center shall have the responsibility in keeping a personal record and issuing an identity card for a worker of Cambodian national in accordance with standards and procedures set by the Ministry of Interior.

2. Individual of Cambodian national who wishes to enter Thailand for employment purposes, whether with previous employment in Thailand or not, shall notify the Facilitation Center within 25 July 2014. After this period, immigration of Cambodian nationals shall be in accordance with relevant laws.

In case where an employer submits a request for migrant workers, or submits a name-list of migrant workers previously worked in his/her business to the Facilitation Center, and should the Center finds that there is a Cambodian national worker who has notified of his/her intention to work in Thailand and whose qualifications match those set by an employer, or whose name matches the name-list submitted by an employer, the Center shall notify the employer so that a temporary work permit can be proceeded.

The Facilitation Center shall consider issuing a temporary entry permit for a Cambodian national who has been transferred to an employer pursuant to paragraph 2 above. The permit shall be valid for 60 days from the issuing date. A Cambodian national who has obtained a temporary entry permit is allowed to work with his/her employer starting from the date the permit becomes valid.

3. When an employer agrees to employ a Cambodian national pursuant to clause 2 above, he or she must obtain a temporary work permit from the One Stop Service for the Registration of Migrant Workers, per clause 4, in the province where the employer’s business is located.

The temporary work permit issued pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be valid for the remaining validity of the temporary entry permit.

4. A One Stop Service for the Registration of Migrant Workers (hereinafter the One Stop Service) shall be established in every province, with the responsibility to issue a temporary work permit for migrant workers and for the orderly management of migrant workers of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodian nationals. The Ministry of Interior shall be the main responsible body, and work in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Health, the Immigration Bureau and other relevant entities. The first One Stop Service is to be set up in Samut Sakhon province on 30 June 2014. Establishment and commencement of the One Stop Service in other provinces shall be in accordance with further announcement from the NCPO.

In implementing paragraph 1 above, the One Stop Service shall have the responsibility in keeping a personal record, issuing an identity card, and carrying out a health check-up for migrant workers in accordance with standards and procedures set by the Ministry of Interior.

5. Individual of Myanmar, Laos or Cambodian national who has entered or resided in Thailand illegally, whose permission has ended, or who undertakes employment illegally, shall report to the aforementioned One Stop Service.

In case where a migrant worker of the abovementioned criteria, accompanied by an employer, reports him/herself and notify his/her intention to work as labor or undertake a laborious work not involving academic knowledge and skills, or other work not in violation of the law relating to employment of migrant workers, the One Stop Service shall consider issuing a temporary work permit for such worker. The permit shall be valid for 60 days from the issuing date. Migrant worker who has obtained the permit can commence work with the employer from the day the permit is issued.

6. Individual of Myanmar, Laos or Cambodian national who has obtained a temporary work permit pursuant to this announcement must undergo a nationality-check process in order for a temporary leave to remain in the Kingdom of Thailand as well as a work permit to be issued in accordance with the law.

7. Temporary entry permit and temporary work permit issued pursuant to this announcement shall be terminated when an individual of Myanmar, Laos or Cambodian national who has obtained a temporary entry permit or temporary work permit falls into on the following category:

(1) has mental problem or contract a disease as prohibited by the Ministry of Health; or is a person with unhealthy condition obstructing the carrying out of his/her occupation according to a doctor’s prescription

(2) is a person with a criminal conviction punishable by imprisonment, except for an offence committed in negligence and minor offences.

(3) behaves in a way that can be deemed dangerous to the society, is likely to cause harm and unrest to the general public, or poses a threat to national security; or is a person against whom foreign government has issued a warrant.

(4) behaves in a way that suggests involvement in prostitution, women and child trafficking, drugs trafficking, custom duty evasion or involvement in other work in contrary to public order and morals

8. Article 12(3), Article 54 and Article 81 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979) shall not be enforced against individual of Myanmar, Laos or Cambodian national who has obtained a temporary entry permit or a temporary work permit pursuant to this announcement, and whose permits are still valid.

9. Business owner, employer and migrant worker shall cooperate in following the measures stipulated by government officers. When the date stated in the temporary entry permit and the temporary work permit has lapsed, relevant law enforcement entities shall strictly enforce the law against migrant worker and other relevant entity.

10. Border Defence Command of the Royal Thai Army and of the Royal Thai Navy as well as other relevant bodies shall strictly control immigration movement along the border lines in accordance with established measures. Other relevant government agencies shall likewise enforce the law strictly against migrant worker smuggling and human trafficking network. Disciplinary and criminal proceedings shall be brought against government officer who fails to carry out his/her duty or who commits malfeasance.

11. Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Health, the Royal Thai Police, the Immigration Bureau, the Internal Security Operations Command, Border Defence Command of the Royal Thai Army and of the Royal Thai Navy, as well as other relevant bodies, shall follow as guidelines the measures and approaches as outlined in this announcement. In addition, they shall consider measures aimed at publicizing and promoting compliance amongst business owners and employers, as well as other measures which will reinforce compliance with this announcement.

12. Policy Committee on Migrant Worker and Human Trafficking established pursuant to Order of the NCPO No. 73/2557 dated 25 June 2014 is to be the main responsible body in overseeing the implementation as well as continually monitoring and reporting the result to the NCPO.